The spacecraft is now on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun, Indian Space Research Organisation said.

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Mail Today Bureau

New Delhi

December 2, 2013

UPDATED: December 2, 2013 21:54 IST

Source: Indian Space Research Organisation

Clearing a critical hurdle in its voyage, India's maiden mission to Mars successfully entered the second phase of the 10-month long journey on Sunday.

After the Mars Orbiter Mission fired its main engine for more than 20 minutes early on Sunday, the spacecraft was, without any hitch, placed in the designated Mars Transfer Trajectory in a 22-minute manoeuvre.

The spacecraft, Mangalyaan, is now on a course to encounter Mars after a journey of about 10 months around the Sun, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.

The success of this project, which involves 680 million-kmlong journey, would carry India into a small club of nations including the United States, Europe and Russia, whose probes have orbited or landed on Mars.

"During this manoeuvre, which began at 00:49 hours, the spacecraft's 440 Newton liquid engine was fired for about 22 minutes providing a velocity increment of 648 metres/second to the spacecraft," the Bangalore-headquartered said in a statement.

ISRO performed the trans-Mars injection, a crucial event intended for hurling its Mars Orbiter spacecraft into the planned orbit around the Sun. It has planned four midcourse corrections in case of any deviation along its path to the Martian orbit before its expected arrival in the orbit of the Red planet in September 2014.

ISRO had performed five orbit-raising manoeuvres on its Mars Orbiter, raising the apogee (farthest point from Earth) of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh km, before it performed the mother of all slingshots.

India probe completed six orbits around Earth before Sunday's slingshot which requires precise calculations to eliminate the risk of missing the new orbit.

The spacecraft is being continuously monitored from the Spacecraft Control Centre at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) in Bangalore with support from Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) antennae at Byalalu in Ramanagara district, Karnataka.

The venture faces further hurdles on its journey to Mars because only fewer than half of missions to the planet have succeeded. The mission's next big challenge will be to enter an orbit around Mars next year, a test failed in 2003 by Japan's probe, which suffered electrical faults as it neared the planet.